


DragonBlood

by FireArrowAce



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternative Universe (Kind of), Dragonform, Fantasy, Gen, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, Kidnapping, Misunderstandings, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 16:46:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16814551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireArrowAce/pseuds/FireArrowAce
Summary: Zoro hears some noise in the forest and goes to investigate. What he found was not what he expected (sorry bad summary..)





	1. Chapter 1

The crew had come together again after two years. Everyone was happy and everything seemed okay. Only a few of the crew members seemed to notice that Luffy acted a little different then two years ago. They had expected that though. Even Luffy wouldn't be completely unaffected by what happened two years ago. They decided to give him all the time he needed to recover.

After a few weeks, the others started to notice their captains odd behaviour too. They asked him what bothered him and if they could help him. He would always shrug it off and make up some excuse to go somewhere else. 

Then there was also a weird group of people following them. They seemed to be after Luffy for some reason. At first they attacked the ship in order to capture the 'monster' as they called him. Luffy always was a bit uneasy when they attacked. The group gave up after a few times since they were no match for the Strawhat crew, but they kept following them. 

Crew members offered Luffy to go with him to explore an island. They felt uneasy to let him go alone since those weird people were most likely on the island too. Luffy, however, would deny the offer. He would say that they could not beat him anyway and that he wanted to go somewhere alone. Sometimes he would return with a few small wounds from an encounter with the group.

* * *

Zoro was looking at the island in the distance. Usopp had reported the appearance of the island a little while ago and the Strawhats had decided to stop there to get some new resources. Nami was telling the rest of the crew who was going to do what. 

''-and Brook and Robin will stay on the ship. Luffy, you and Sanji go to the village for the food and other stuff on the list, ok?'' She told the others.  
''I don't want to go to the village. I want to explore the island.'' Luffy said. Nami looked at him.  
''No Luffy, you explored the last couple of island. It is your turn to do the shopping. You haven't done it since two years ago.''  
''I'm going to explore the island!'' He yelled at her. Nami was getting really angry right now.  
''You go to the town or I'll drag you there myself!'' She yelled at her captain.  
Zoro snickered. Luffy never changes.  
Luffy looked at Zoro. "Zoro, you go to town to buy stuff, captains order!"  
"Eh?!" Zoro and Sanji exclaimed at the same time.  
Luffy walked to the railing and stretched his arm to the island, which was really close by now.  
''Luffy! What are you doing?!'' Nami yelled at him. ''I'm going to explore the island!'' He yelled. Then he was gone. Nami groaned and looked at the crew. ''Well, you heard him. Zoro will go with Sanji.'' She said, earning complains from the two mentioned. 

* * *

They anchored the ship and stepped on shore. Luffy was no were to be seen. They all went to do the thing they were supposed to do. Robin and Brook stayed to guard the ship, Usopp and Franky went into the nearby forest to gather wood and some herbs for Chopper. Nami, chopper, Sanji and Zoro went to the village to get their things. Of course, Zoro got lost when they were only halfway there. He somehow ended up in the forest at the other side of the island. 

While complaining about moving paths and disappearing crew mates he walked through the forest, searching for the village. At some point he found himself on top of a hill. There were no trees on the hill so he could see everything around him. He could see the village, which was at the opposite direction he was heading first. 'When did they move the village?' He thought while scratching the back of his head. He then saw something moving in the forest at the other side of the hill. It looked like something big was running around. Zoro got a bit curious and walked in the direction of the movements. 

When he came closer he heard people yelling. He picked up the pace and ran in the direction of the noise. He, for once, didn't get lost and he arrived at the place where he heared the yelling come from. 

Zoro saw people running past him. He recognized them as the group who had been followed the crew. They seemed to be chasing something or someone. Zoro unsheathed one of his swords and followed the group. Luffy was somewhere on the island as well. It was a possibility that they were chasing the teen. He knew that they would be no match for his captain, but he had to make sure that they didn't hurt his captain. 

The men suddenly stopped and Zoro hid behind a tree. They started shooting and throwing spears at something. Zoro had not seen who or what they were shooting at yet. Something then roared and suddenly fire blew in their direction. The people backed away and then ran forwards. Zoro came out from behind the tree and ran to the scene to see what was going on. However, he hadn't expected this.

The men were surrounding a red dragon. The mythical creature was about the size of a big horse and was defending himself against the group. There were a few spears sticking out of its body and Zoro could see some cuts on the scaled skin. Zoro saw that about half of the group was taken out by the fire and the animal had probably taken out more before he arrived. 

The group charged again and the dragon swung its tail at them. The tail had some kind of blade at the end and it slashed some of the incoming enemies in the chest, making them unable to fight. The remaining people attempted to throw some more spears, but were taken down by Zoro. He had decided to help the creature a bit by defeating the last few of them. After making sure there were no remaining enemies, he turned to face the dragon. 

The dragon was looking at him with golden eyes, but made no move to attack. The mythical beast had red scales with a few black stripes all over its body. He had four silver-coloured horns on its head. Two big and two smaller ones. It had dark spines running from his muzzle to the end of its tail. The big red wings had some black streaks on them. The animal had four big claws at each paw and a blade at the end of its tail.

Zoro sheathed his sword and slowly started to approach the creature. The creature didn't seemed to be badly injured, but he wanted to help it by removing the weapons from its back. The animal backed up while hissing at the man. Zoro stopped and raised his hands, showing the dragon that he means no harm. The creature backed up more when Zoro started to move forward again. 

Suddenly, a voice spoke in Zoro's head. 'Zoro! Stay back!' It said. Zoro was confused. Who had just spoken to him? He looked around but saw no one. He took another step. 'Zoro stop! Go away!' The voice said again. Zoro looked at the dragon. Was it the animal who was talking to him? 'How does it know my name?' He thought. He moved a little more. That was it. The dragon turned around and ran away. ''Wait!'' Zoro called out. He started running after the creature.

* * *

Zoro was lost again. He groaned as he passed the banana-shaped tree for the third time in five minutes. He wanted to know how the beast knew his name. Also, something about the dragon seemed familiar. He just couldn't lay his finger on it. He was about to give up when he heard some noise at his right. He walked towards the sound and saw the dragon again. 

The mythical beast was sitting in front of a lake. In the grass next to the dragon laid a few spears. The creature had pulled them out. Zoro wanted to call out to the creature, but stopped himself when he saw that the dragon started to change. 

The dragon started to shrink in its size and its wings disappeared in its back, so did the tail. The muzzle started to get shorter and the horns vanished. The colour and scales changed into human skin and the spines disappeared. The claws became fingers and toes. Slowly, the dragon transformed in a black-haired boy.

Zoro stared in shock at his captain. The naked boy was on his knees and panting. Luffy grabbed a remaining spear that was still stuck in his chest and pulled it out. Zoro slowly made his way to the teen. ''Luffy?'' He asked a bit uncertain. Luffy's head shot up and turned in his direction. He stared wide-eyed at his first mate. ''Z-Zoro.. What are you doing here?!'' He asked. 

Zoro walked over to his captain. ''What the hell just happened?'' He asked the boy. Luffy backed up a little. ''I thought I told you to go away? What are you doing here?'' The two of them stared at each other for about a minute without saying anything. Zoro decided to break the awkward silence. ''Ehm.. How long have you been a.. dragon?'' He asked. Luffy looked a bit uneasy but answerd anyway. ''Well.. It kinda started when I turned eighteen. I still don't know why though..'' Zoro sighed. ''Why did you hide it? You know that we don't care about this kind of things, right?'' Luffy looked away in shame. He knew that, but he found it difficult to talk about. ''Can we continue this after I get my clothes on?'' He said. Zoro looked around for the clothes and found them a few feet away. He grabbed them and gave them to his captain. "Why did you take them off anyway?" He asked. "Well, they will probably tear apart if I change into a dragon." Luffy answered as he washed the blood of his skin with the water of the lake and then dressed himself. 'Of course. I could've known that.' Zoro thought. He looked to the sky only to realize that it was already dark. He'd completely lost track of time. ''Should we go back to the ship? We can talk there.'' He said. Luffy nodded.

* * *

The way back to the ship had been quiet. When they arrived at the ship, Nami, who was on watch, had scold them for being late and told them to let Chopper bandage Luffy up. After that, they ate the food wich Sanji had left on the kitchen table since they were too late for dinner. When they were done they headed to the crows nest. In the crows nest Luffy sat down against the wall. 

Zoro sat down next to him and waited for Luffy to start talking. Luffy sighed. ''Like I said before it started when I became eighteen. Neither I or Rayleigh knew what was happening with me. I mean, you don't see someone suddenly change into a fire breathing dragon every day.'' He chuckled. ''Apparently, I have dragon blood running through my veins. Rayleigh said that it probably had to do with my mother, because Rayleigh knows that my father is not a dragon and we don't know who or what my mother is. We're not sure though. Anyway, when I first changed I couldn't control myself and I started rampaging through the island. Rayleigh had to knock me out to stop me. I still have difficulties with controlling it, which is one of the reasons I didn't tell you guys. I don't want to hurt my friends by accident.''

''You don't have to worry about that, Luffy. We all trained for two years. I'm sure we can handle you if you lose control of yourself. And you can't hurt us if you tell us without changing.'' Zoro told the boy. Luffy smiled. ''I know you all are really strong, but I can't take the risk. And I know I could have told you all. It's just.. I don't really like to talk about it. I know that if I tell everyone they would start asking questions and I don't want that. I don't know much about it myself.''

Zoro looked at his captain, deciding whenever he should ask more or not. He decided to ask one last thing. ''I have one last question, Luffy.'' He asked. Luffy looked at him waiting for him to continue talking. ''Who are those people who are following us and what do they want from you?'' Zoro asked. Luffy knew that he was going to ask that. ''They once stopped by the island I was training on with Rayleigh. I was in my dragon form when one of the men saw me. Once they knew about me they started attacking me. I still don't know who they are. Rayleigh said that they probably believe that some parts of a dragon have some kind of healing power and that they can get a lot of money for it if they sell it. They kept attacking me at least once week and they still do. When we dock at an island I always go exploring on my own so I can shift in my dragon form. I get kinda cranky when I can't shift for a long period of time. Sometimes, the group attacks me when I'm alone on an island. They are easy to defeat, but they are getting stronger.'' He told Zoro. 

The swordsman thought about what Luffy had told him. ''I think you need to tell the crew. They deserve to know this.'' He said. Luffy sighed. ''I know, but how do you tell someone about these kinds of things? I'm afraid I can't go to them like 'Hey guys, I'm half-dragon!'' He said with a small grin on his face. Zoro snorted. ''Nah, I think you should say it just like that.'' They laughed. After they stopped laughing Luffy laid his head on Zoro's shoulder and yawned. ''I'll figure out how to tell them tomorrow.'' He said as he fell asleep. Zoro smiled at his captain. 'Sleep well, captain.' He thought before he, too, fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

When Zoro woke up, he had to think for a few seconds where he was and what had happened. He remembered yesterday's events and looked over to his captain, only to find him sprawled over his lap and snoring loudly. His captain's elbow was jabbed in his abdomen, which was kind of irritating. He sighed. Why couldn't Luffy just sleep without moving around all the time. Luffy chose that moment to wake up and he yawned. He didn't seem bothered at all by his position. 

"G'morning Zoro." He said. "Good morning Luffy. Now, could you get off please?" Zoro asked. Luffy blinked a few times. "Why?" he asked. The swordsman groaned in annoyance and pushed the rubber man off of him. He then stood up and walked to one of the windows. The sun was up and some of the crew were already on the deck. It seemed like breakfast would be soon. 

"Zoro." Zoro turned around at the mention of his name. Luffy had stood up and was looking at him. "I'm not going to tell them today. I'm not ready yet." He said. Zoro had expected this. He couldn't blame his captain for that. They then heard Sanji yell that breakfast was ready. Luffy immediately rushed to the door. By the door he turned around and looked at his first mate. "You won't tell them, right?" Zoro shook his head. "No, I won't. I promise." He answered. Luffy smiled and then continued to rush to the kitchen.

* * *

They were done eating and some of the crew were going back to the island since it would take another day for the log pose to set. Luffy had planned to go back on land too. He walked over to Zoro, who was about to go back to the crows nest to train. He tapped the swordsman's shoulder causing him to turn around. "I'm going back to the forest. Do.. you want to come?" He asked unsure. Zoro thought for a few seconds before nodding. He could train when they came back. Luffy smiled and he and Zoro then jumped off of the ship and walked in the direction of the forest.

* * *

They had been walking for some time before they found an open space within the forest. Luffy looked at the place. "This is a good place." He said. ''Won't those guys come back to hunt you?'' Zoro asked. "No, they never attack next day. They're probably regrouping and thinking of new strategies or something." Luffy took off his hat and gave it to his first mate. "Keep it safe." He said with a smile. Zoro nodded. Luffy then proceed to take off his clothes. He then walked to the middle of the open space. He took a deep breath and started to change. Zoro looked at his captain as the teen changed into the mythical creature. It was pretty much the same way as when he changed from his dragon form into a human, but.. different. 

The boy started to grow in his size. His skin changed into red and black scales and two big wings grew on his back. His head became more dog-like in its shape and a tail appeared behind him. His fingers and toes became claws and four horns grew from his head. The change didn't even last a minute. Two golden eyes looked at Zoro. 

The two of them stared at each other. There was a long, awkward silence. Luffy decided to break that silence. 'So.. Well.. What do you think of this form?' He asked the swordsman. "I think it's pretty cool." Zoro said. Luffy smiled and sat down. Zoro walked a bit closer to the dragon. The beast was a few feet taller than him, even when the animal sat down. 'You can come closer if you want..' Luffy said. He still was a little bit afraid that he might lose control, but he knew that Zoro was strong enough to defend himself if it went wrong. 

"I have the feeling that you are excited to show off your new form to me." Zoro said with a smile. 'Maby I am. The only ones who have seen it, are Rayleigh and that group. The group only wants to capture me and Rayleigh didn't really care that much about it. It does feel nice to show it to someone else.' He said. Even though he was afraid he would hurt someone with this form, he did think it was cool to be a dragon.

"How do you even talk? I can hear your voice, but your mouth doesn't move." Zoro asked. It was really weird looking at someone who's talking to you, but doesn't move their mouth. 'I really don't know. I guess telepathy or something.' Luffy said. 

Zoro walked to the dragon. He gently laid his hand on the scales just above the animal's front leg. It felt like the skin of a lizard, but that would be logical since Luffy was now pretty much a very big lizard. He moved his hand to the wings. The membrane was thin and it felt a bit like rubber. 

"Can you fly?" Zoro asked curious. Luffy shrugged. 'Maybe. I tried to in the past, but that didn't really work. If I tried harder I probably could.' He told the swordsman. Zoro nodded and his eye then fell of the blade on the end of Luffy's tail. "Can I take a look at the blade?" He asked his captain. The dragon nodded. He walked over to the long, whip-like tail and sat down next to the blade. It wasn't very long; about twice the size of his hand. It was very sharp, like his own katanas. "You can do some real damage with this thing." he said to Luffy. 'I know, but it is hard to aim with my tail. Wait, I'll show you.' He said and stood up. 

He walked to one of the trees at the edge of the clearing. With his claws he marked the tree at about one and a half meter above the ground. He took a few steps back. "Zoro, can you take a few steps back too?" He asked, but it was more like an order. Zoro did what him was told and took a few steps back. Luffy started to swing his tail around to create speed. He then swung the blade towards the tree, only to miss it by a meter. He tried again. Same result. The third time he hit the tree, but not on the marked place. Luffy sighed and sat down again. 'See, it is almost impossible to hit a target with this thing. When there are many targets, like that group, then I can hit it. Otherwise I can't even hit a tree.' He said. "You just need to train more. I bet you couldn't hit a target with your rubber powers when you just got them.'' Zoro said to the dragon. Luffy nodded. That was true. He was terrible at aiming when he was little. He had to train a lot to get as good as he is now. 

"Talking about your power, does it still work? I mean, when your in your dragon form?" Zoro asked the teen. Luffy shook his head. 'This body doesn't stretch. My wings feel like rubber, but it's not the same.' He told his first mate. "Then, can you swim?" The swordsman asked. Luffy thought for a bit. 'I don't know. I haven't tried to do that yet.' He said. "Why don't we go try that now? There is a lake nearby and it's not like we have something better to do.'' Luffy hesitated, but nodded anyway. Trying new things is good, right? 

"Alright, let's go.'' Zoro said and walked out of the clearing. 'Zoro!' Luffy yelled. The swordsman turned around to look at his captain. 'The lake is the other direction..'

* * *

They were now at the same place as were Zoro had found Luffy the previous day. Luffy stood in front of the water. 'You know, I couldn't even swim before I ate my devil fruit. I never learned to do that. What if I can't keep my head above the water?' He asked while he placed one paw in the water. "If you really can't swim and sink to the bottom I will get you out." Zoro assured him. 

Luffy took a deep breath and walked into the water. Near the edge of the lake the water wasn't that deep. Luffy stood there for a few seconds. 'I don't feel my strength leave me yet, so I guess the water doesn't affect me in this form.' He said and clapped his wings to show that he still had all his strength.

"Alright, now go to the deeper end of the water. Try to swim a bit.'' Luffy walked further into the lake until only his head was above the water. 'What do I do now? I really don't know how to swim. Do I just kick my legs around or something?' He asked his friend. "I don't know. How should I know how a dragon swims? Just try something.'' Zoro replied. He was sitting at the edge of the lake with only his pants on in case he needs to jump in the water to save his captain. His other clothes laid behind him together with Luffy's clothes, strawhat on top of the heap. Zoro's swords laid next to him in the grass.

Luffy took a big step towards a point where he couldn't stand anymore. He then went under in the water. A few seconds later he came back up while trashing in the water. He was coughing out water and trying to keep his head above the surface. Suddenly, he got the feeling he knew how to swim. Like, some sort of instinct. He stopped trashing in the water and started to move his body around. He started to swim like a crocodile. 

"So, I see you figured out how to swim. That was quick.'' Zoro commented. Luffy just continued to swim around. He dove under and surfaced ten seconds later. 'Man, swimming feels so nice..' He said as he swam over to Zoro. Zoro smiled. His captain has never swum before. It was good to see that he was enjoying the water of once.

Suddenly, Luffy was gone. Zoro blinked a few times. His captain had been there a few seconds ago. He then felt the present of something big just below the surface of the water near the edge where he was sitting. He noticed that a bit too late. Luffy submerged from the water and grabbed the swordsman's foot with his jaw and tugged him into the water. 

Zoro submerged while couching up a large amount of water. "Dammit Luffy! What was that for?'' Zoro yelled at the dragon. Luffy was laughing hard. "You know that you have really sharp teeth, right?" He said. His foot was a bit sore now. 'Sorry Zoro.' Luffy said smiling. The swordsman sighed. It was probably his own fault for letting his guard down. The water wasn't too bad either. It was pretty nice. He decided to just lay against the shore and take a nap. Of course, Luffy wouldn't let that happen. He thought it would be fun to jump around in the water, creating big waves. If Zoro could get more soaked, he was now..

* * *

Some time had passed since they had settled down at the lake. Luffy had gotten out of the water, giving Zoro the opportunity to take a small nap. The captain was lying on the shore digging holes in the ground with his claws. He was bored.

'Hey Zoro,' He called out to his friend. No response. 'Hey Zoro, I'm bored. Let's play a game or something.' Still no response. He got up and walked to the sleeping man, who was still half in the water. Luffy gave the swordsman a little shove causing the man to fall completely in the water. 

Zoro submerged from the water and spit out water. He glared at the dragon. "Can you stop doing that?!" He yelled. Luffy grinned. 'Hey, you're awake! Good, I'm bored. Let's do something fun!' He said. Zoro got out of the water and smacked the dragon on his head. "Idiot. You can just ask instead of pushing me in the water." He said. Luffy pouted. 'I did, but you wouldn't wake up.' The older man sighed. "Alright, just let me dry up a little. Then we can something else." He said as he sat down on the grass. The dragon nodded and sat down next to him.

* * *

After some time Zoro, was as good as dry and had put his clothes back on (his pants was still wet, which was a little annoying). "Well, what are we gonna do now?" He asked his captain. Luffy thought for a little. 'Maybe explore the island some more. I didn't have the time for that yesterday.' Luffy suggested. Zoro nodded even though he didn't really like exploring. 'Ok, but I'm changing back to my normal form first. I'm a lot stronger in that form and we don't know who or what we might encounter.' The dragon said. He then changed back to his human form and put his clothes and his hat on. "Ok, let's get going!" he said, excited to see if there was something fun to do on the island.

* * *

They had been walking for a while now and there didn't seem to be anything to do on this island. Zoro and Luffy were talking about all kinds of things along the way. They didn't really had a conversation to catch up with each other since the crew came back together. One of the things they talked about was training. That was something they both had done the past two years. 

"Earlier, you said that your dragon form isn't as strong as the form you are in now. How can you be less strong in another form? You're still the same person, right?" Zoro asked his friend. Luffy shrugged. "Well, I only trained with my rubber powers and haki. The only thing I did with my other form was learning how to control it. Rayleigh wanted me to focus on my haki training alone, so I didn't have the time to really learn how to fight as a dragon. I do learn a little bit more about how to fight every time I get attacked, but it's not the best and fastest way to train." 

Zoro thought for a moment. "Maybe I can teach you to fight with that blade on your tail. I work with swords all the time." The swordsman said. "Really?!" Luffy asked. Zoro nodded. "Your tail is like a really long arm with a sword, so I don't think there is much difference between fighting with a tail with a blade or fighting with an arm and an actual sword." He said. Luffy gave him a bon-crushing hug. "Thank you so much!" He exclaimed. "L-Luffy let go o-of me." Zoro said gasping for air. "Oops.. Sorry Zoro." Luffy said while still grinning. He let go of his fist mate who then finally got fresh air into his lungs. The rubber man then started to ramble about how excited he was to have Zoro as his teacher. Zoro smiled. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he himself was a little excited too to teach his captain how to use his blade.


	3. Chapter 3

"So, when are we gonna start? We could start now, right? We don't have anything to do anyway!" Luffy said excitedly. "I don't think that's a good idea. We only have about one hour left before dinner and after dinner we're leaving the island. There is too little time to learn anything." Zoro replied. 

Luffy groaned in annoyance. "But can't we just begin here and continue in the training room on the Sunny?" The teen asked. The swordsman sighed. "If we train there you'll probably break everything in that room. I think it's better to wait until we dock at the next island and use the time we have there to teach you how to use your tail."

"Fine.. But what can we do right now? There is nothing fun to do on this island." Luffy said. "I don't know. We could just go back to the others." Zoro suggested. Luffy shook his head. "I don't want to go back just yet. Maybe I could try to fly a bit?" He said. "I don't know how long it takes to learn how to fly, but that probably takes a lot of time too. A bit of practice won't hurt though." Zoro said. "Then it's decided! Let's look for a tall tree or hill to jump off." Luffy said as he started to run in a random direction. "Luffy wait!" Zoro yelled as he ran after his captain.

* * *

It took Luffy five minutes to find a good spot and ten minutes to find Zoro, who was once again lost. It was a small hill, about fifteen meters high, that was covered in large trees. "I'm going to jump off of that tree. I should be able to fly through the air for a few seconds." The younger man said as he pointed at one of the trees. "Are you sure nobody can see you up there?" Zoro asked. Luffy nodded. "Yeah I checked the surroundings from up there and nobody from the ship nor the village can possibly see me." He said. 

Luffy once again took off his clothes and changed into the red dragon. "Hey Luffy, I noticed that it takes about a minute for you to change in your other form. Won't you be able to do it faster if you tried. That could be handy if there is an emergency or something, don't you think?" Luffy thought about it. 'I guess you're right. I should be able to, but I'll have to practice that.' He said. He then walked over to one of the trees and began to climb. 

When he reached the top he spread his wings. He flapped them a few times to warm them up a bit. Zoro watched his friend from the ground. Luffy then jumped off the tree and started to wildly flap his wings in the air. After exactly six seconds he fell down and landed face-first on the ground in front of his first mate, who was trying not to laugh. 

"So, how was the flight?" Zoro asked. Luffy glared at him. The dragon stood up and walked back to the tree. "You're going to try again?" The swordsman asked. Luffy nodded and climbed back in the tree. 'We have enough time so why wouldn't I?' The dragon said. He was now back at his spot in the large tree and spread his wings again. 

"Maybe you should try to flap your wings a bit slower. Birds don't flap that fast with their wings." Zoro yelled at his captain from under the tree. Deciding it was worth trying, Luffy once again jumped off of the top of the tree, this time clapping his wings at a slower pace. He stayed almost ten seconds at the same height as the tree, but then he fell down a bit causing him to fly two meters above the ground. He was stopped as he flew into a tree and landed upside down against it.

"That was much better than before, except for the landing." Zoro said as he walked up to Luffy. 'Really? How long did I last?' Luffy asked. "I think about thirteen seconds. That's twice the time you lasted before." The swordsman said. Luffy grinned and immediately went back to the tree. 'I'm going to try again!' He yelled as he disappeared in the tree.

* * *

It was getting late and the sky was getting dark. Everyone was on the Sunny, except for Luffy and Zoro. They were almost an hour too late. The crew had decided to start diner already so they could leave the island as soon as the others arrived. 

"Seriously, next time I won't give them any food." Sanji said annoyed. The food he had made for the captain and first mate were still on the table for when the two would return. He and the others were almost done eating now. 

"They probably lost the way back to the ship. Again." Nami said. "Probably Zoro's fault." Usopp added. "Maybe we should put a tracker on Zoro so we can find him when he's lost." Robin said with a smile on her face. Usopp shook his head. "He would manage to lose the tracker somehow." He said. 

At that moment the two walked into the kitchen. "Finally! Where the hell were you two?" Nami yelled at them. They were silent for a few seconds. Luffy then pointed at Zoro. "Zoro got us lost." He said. The others face-palmed while Zoro looked the other way. "It's the trees' fault. They moved." He said.

"Well, eat your damn food or it'll get cold." Sanji said. He didn't need to tell Luffy twice since he was already inhaling the meat in big amounts. Zoro sat down on his spot next to the captain and started to eat too. The others continued to eat their food while occasionally slapping away a rubbery hand reaching for their meal.

* * *

After finishing their meal the crew set sail. It was getting late and some of the crew members had already gone to bed. Sanji had night watch and the only ones awake beside him were Luffy, Zoro and Robin. Oh, never mind. Zoro fell asleep. 

The captain was sitting on his usual spot on the figure head. He was thinking about ways to tell the crew about his other form. He still had to tell them about it, but he hadn't had the courage to do it yet. Why was he having trouble with it? He was normally so open about things like this. What was he afraid of? Rejection? They are his friends. They wouldn't leave him for this. 

Right?

"Something bothering you, captain?" A voice said from behind him, startling the teen. Luffy turned around and saw Robin standing there. "No, it's nothing. Don't worry." He said and gave her a smile. The dark-haired woman smiled back at him. "Alright then. I'll be heading to bed then." She said and turned around to leave. "And Luffy," The captain turned his attention back to Robin. "If you ever have trouble with something, you can always talk to us. We won't judge." She said. She then left the straw hat wearing teen alone on the figure head. Luffy smiled. "Thanks, Robin.."


	4. Chapter 4

Three weeks had passed since Zoro found out about Luffy's dragon form. The crew had stopped at a few small islands in those weeks and the captain and first mate used those opportunities to train with each other. Zoro learned Luffy to put his blade to good use. He was getting better each time. Zoro now allowed him to train in the training room because he could now almost fully control the movements of his tail. Flying still didn't always go as planned (Luffy would end up in a tree almost every time), but he was improving. In other words, Luffy was getting better and stronger.

Luffy had also considered telling the rest of the crew about his other form, but every time something came up, preventing him from saying it. He was twice interrupted by an attack, once by Marines and once by the group who still hadn't given up on captureing him, and one time by a storm that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The last time he had decided not to do it because Usopp had told him and Chopper about one of his great adventures, one where he killed a hundred dragons with a single blow. Even though Zoro told him the sniper was lying, Luffy didn't want to tell them, especially Usopp, that he was a dragon.

The crew had stopped at a new island to restock on food. The log pose would we reset by evening, so they didn't have much time. Luffy, as always, said that he wanted to explore the island and Zoro had to come with him. The others, especially Nami, were getting a bit annoyed that the two of them didn't help them with getting the new supplies. Every time they stopped at an island the two of them would go off and reappear just before or after dinner. It was even weirder because the swordsman didn't even like exploring that much.

* * *

Nami, Robin and Usopp were sitting on deck. The girls were sipping from a drink the cook had made for them and the sniper was making a weird invention that looked like a deformed toaster.

"Robin, don't you think those two acting a bit strange?" Nami suddenly said. The archaeologist looked up from her book. "Do you mean our captain and first mate?" Nami nodded. "They've been going off with each other every time we set foot on land for the past few weeks. They've going to the training room together too. They didn't do that before. It's a bit weird don't you think?" The red-haired woman said. Robin smiled. "You are right, I've noticed that too. They are really close friends." 

Nami turned the page of the magazine she was reading. "They are really good friends, if not more.." Nami said. The dark-haired woman looked at her. "You don't think they.. do you?" Nami laughed. "Just think about it. It would make sense if they were. What else could explain their sudden attachment to each other." She said. Robin smiled. "They would look cute together. But how can we be sure this is the case?" She asked. "Someone should spy on them. Someone they wouldn't expect to do that." The navigator said. Both women looked at the only other crew member on deck.

Usopp felt their gaze burning in his back. He looked up from his new invention and looked at the two girls. "What?" He asked. The women looked at each other and nodded. Nami then stood up from her chair and walked over to the sniper. "Usopp, we would like you to do something for us." She said. He looked back and forth between the grinning ladies and gulped. This couldn't end well..

* * *

"Luffy, focus! Don't get distracted by other things!" Zoro yelled at this friend as he and Luffy sparred, Luffy in his dragon form. 'But Zoro, that monkey threw a coconut at me.' Luffy wined. The swordsman glared at him. The teen pouted and gave the monkey one last look before continuing their fight. Another coconut hit the dragon on the head. Luffy growled and charged at the animal. The monkey laughed and ran away in the trees. 'Get back here you stupid monkey!' He yelled as he chased the creature.

"Luffy wait! God dammit.." Zoro muttered as he ran after his captain. This was the fifth time they had been interrupted by animals today. Somehow, the creatures liked to anger other animals and people. 'I guess no training for us today.' The swordsman thought.

He stopped and looked around. Luffy was nowhere to be seen. "Luffy!" He yelled. No response. 'Dammit, where the hell is that idiot.' "Lu-" He was cut off by a loud bang not far from where he was standing. A loud roar followed. 'Found the trouble magnet..' Zoro sighed and ran towards the noise.

* * *

When he arrived he saw the dragon fighting with some guys Zoro recognized as the people that had been following them ever since the crew reunited. Most of the group was already on the ground, unconscious. Luffy's upper body was trapped in a net made of chains. He was kicking and slashing the remaining guys with his hind legs and tail. He didn't seem to have much trouble beating the crap out of them even with the net immobilizing his front legs and mouth. 

Zoro unsheathed two of his swords and helped the dragon take out the remaining enemies. He looked at his captain who was struggling to get out of the net. "Need help with that?" He asked. Luffy nodded. Removing the net off the dragon wouldn't have been that big of a task if that idiot hadn't tangled himself in it. Zoro had to cut almost the whole net to tiny bits to get the teen out of it.

'Thanks Zoro.' Luffy said grinning. The swordsman hit the animal on the head. "Idiot, what did I tell you about running off?" He said. 'Sorry, sorry.' The dragon apologized, still smiling. Zoro sighed. He looked up at the sky which was getting darker. "We should head back to the ship." He said. The teen nodded. 'But first we should go back to the place we were fighting so I can get my clothes.' He said. Zoro threw the rubberman's clothes at the dragon. "I took them with me in case we couldn't find them back." He said. 'Thanks!' Luffy said. 

Luffy changed back into his human form and put his clothes on. He walked to Zoro and took his straw hat from his first mate's head. "Alright, let's go back." He said and he and Zoro made their way back to the Sunny, Zoro leading the way.

* * *

It was long past dinner when the two of them finally arrived at the ship. Nami had scolded them for being late, again, and Sanji cursed at them for missing dinner, again, which ended with the swordsman and the cook fighting and Luffy eating his meat and a bit of Zoro's meal.

After captain and first mate finished eating they set sail. They weren't even ten minutes off the island when Marines attacked them. After leaving the Marines behind with a sinking ship, most of the crew settled down for a game of cards. Luffy still didn't understand the purpose of the game even after Usopp explained it more than ten times and this wasn't even the first time playing it.

By the time the game ended, with Luffy at last place and Franky on first, it was already midnight. Everyone went to bed, except Brook. He was on watching duty. He didn't have anything to do since it was a normal, peaceful night.

* * *

Two days had passed without anything unusual happening. They weren't even attacked once by Marines. Most pirates would be glad for that. The strawhats not. Now they had to deal with a bored and annoying captain. 

Usopp had finished his invention, the one what looked like a deformed toaster, and showed the other teens his creation. Luffy and Chopper found the machine really cool. There were lasers coming out of it. They were better visible in a dark room or outside at night. The tree of them had spent a few hours in the boys cabin with the lights off looking at the lasers. 

The sniper had added a mode that caused the lasers to move around. Luffy, being Luffy, had chased the lasers around. It ended with a lot of knocked over stuff and a hole in the wall (the rubber teen tried to catch a laser with force). The boys were banned from the boys cabin by Franky and now Luffy was bored again.

* * *

Usopp sighed. He was walking on the Sunny's deck looking for two of his friends. Nami and Robin had 'asked' him to spy on his captain and the swordsman. They thought that those two could have a secret relationship and they wanted him to find out if they were right. 'Why do I have to do this..' He thought. He then spotted the two he was searching for. 

Zoro was sitting against the rail and Luffy was standing in front of him. They were talking to each other. Usopp couldn't hear what they said, but he could very well guess what they were saying. It would probably be something like..

'Zoro, play with me! 

No, I'm sleeping. 

PLease Zoro, I'm bored.

Luffy, go away. 

But Zoro- 

No Luffy. Go ask Usopp or Chopper.'

He could see Luffy pout and then walk away from the swordsman. He saw Usopp and ran towards him. "Usopp, I'm bored. Play with me!" He said. Usopp smiled. 'So predictable.'

* * *

Five days had now passed since the last island. Usopp was wandering on the ship. Luffy and Zoro hadn't done anything yet. He was getting serious doubts about the girls' theory. Well, until now that is. 

He had just exited the kitchen and was walking to the boys' cabin. When he came closer to the room he heared someone groan. He opened the door he saw something that made his eyes widen. Zoro was with his back against the wall and Luffy was in front of him, his hands at each side of his first mate's shoulders. Their clothes seemed a bit ruffled up and the swordsman's chest was exposed. The swordsman had his head tilted back and his eyes squinted in. The rubberman's face was really close to the other man's chest, almost if he was lick-

Usopp blushed madly. 'Nope, nope, nope.' The sniper thought and left the room without making any noise. He ran to the deck and sat down on the bench next to the mast. He then just stared at nothing. He needed to clear his mind. What had he just witnessed? Were the girls right after all? Did they notice him? 

He shook his head. He was probably seeing things, nothing more. He was thinking too much about the concept of their captain and swordsman being in a relationship. He took out a little notebook from his pocket and wrote down what he had seen. 'Just to be sure.' He slipped the notebook back in his pocket and stood up. 

Zoro and Luffy then appeared from the doorway. They both went to the training room. The sniper watched them disappear inside. He then walked inside the ship to the boys' cabin because he still had to grab the new building equipment Franky had left for him there.

* * *

-What really happened a few minutes ago-

Zoro and Luffy were both in the boys' cabin. They were talking about random stuff while they put on other clothes (more like Luffy was talking about random stuff while they put on other clothes). 

"Could we go training again? We didn't do that yesterday." The younger man said to the other man. Zoro nodded. "Sure, I was planning on doing that anyway." He said. He made his way over to the door while putting on a vest. Luffy ran after him. Suddenly, the rubberman tripped over god knows what and he fell against his first mate. He sent the both of them smashing against the wall. Zoro hit the wall with his back and Luffy crashed into him. Zoro's head hit the wall hard and he groaned.

The teen put his hand on each side of the swordsman trying to get off, but somehow managed to slip again, crashing with his face against the older man's exposed chest. He took a deep breath and tried again to get off, this time with success. Zoro rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry Zoro, I tripped." Luffy apologized. Zoro sighed and stood up right. "Don't worry about it. Let's go." He started to walk to the door again and saw that it was open. 'I though that the door was closed. Well whatever..' He thought and he and Luffy, who was walking this time, made their way out of the boys' cabin.

* * *

-Somewhere else on an other boat-

"Boss, it's no use! He is too strong for us. And now that green-haired swordsman is with him most of the time we won't make any chance of capturing him." A man said to an other man, his boss. The other man was sitting at a large desk with his arms crossed.

"We must have him. We've spend too much time on this one to let him go. This one might become our best catch yet. I know a lot of people who would pay a lot of money for him or a part of him. Especially at how rare he is." The man behind the desk said.

"But Boss, we've tried almost everything to get him! What more can we do?" The man's subordinate said. The man behind the desk pointed a gun at the other man. "Lars, you are my best man in this whole group. You really can't think of another method to do this? Because, I can." He man said. He put away his gun and stood up. He walked over to the window of the room.

"If we can't beat and capture him, we have to be smarter than him. We just have to take something he holds dear. He can then trade himself for them." The man said. His subordinate, Lars, looked at him. "You don't mean..?" He asked unsure. He man laughed.

"That's right," The man smiled evilly. "were gonna capture his crew mates."


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey Zoro, look at this!" Luffy said as he held his arm up. The older man laid the weight he was lifting down and looked at the arm. Nothing seemed to happen. "Luffy, there's no-" "Just look." Luffy interrupted him. Zoro sighed and continued to look at the arm. Suddenly, there started to appear red scales on his arm and sharp claws appeared at the end of his fingers. 

"See? I can now change one part of my body at the time!" Luffy yelled excited. Zoro quickly held a hand over Luffy's mouth. "Be quiet idiot. You don't want to be found out, right?" The swordsman said to him.

A few more weeks had passed and the two men were in the training room. Zoro was lifting weights while Luffy was experimenting with his dragon form. They had been up there for a few hours. The first mate had more than once gotten a tail or wing slammed against him. The rubberman did say sorry every time (though it didn't sound like he meant it).

"But it's cool right?" The rubberman said. Zoro nodded. "Yeah, really cool. Now, let me train. Don't bother me." The man said as he picked up his weight again. Luffy pouted. "You're no fun.." He said and walked away from the swordsman.

'Now, what to do..' The teen thought as he stood at the opposite side of the room. He could now change a leg or arm without having to transform into a dragon. Maybe he could sprout wings from his back too. Then he could fly in his human form. That would be so cool!

Deciding what he was going to do, the teen took off his shirt and threw it somewhere on the ground. The then started to concentrate on his back, on the place where he wings should be. That's how he managed to change his arms and legs too. Just concentrate on that particular body part and think of what he wanted it to become.

Apparently, getting wings wasn't as easy as transforming arms and legs. Instead of getting wings he almost changed into his dragon form. He couldn't do that. The remainder of his clothes could rip. He stopped and his body returned to normal. 'Let's try again.' Luffy thought and repeated the process. He got the same result.

He tried a few more times, but nothing more than some scales appeared on his back. The teen groaned in frustration. Maybe he should try the other way around? That could work. He took off the rest of his clothes and transformed into his dragon form.

It took a little more then half a minute for him to become a full dragon. He was getting faster in changing between his human and dragon form. He then started to transform back again, trying to keep the wings from disappearing. 

Well, that didn't go as planned.

Zoro decided that moment to look at what Luffy was doing and almost burst out in laughter. His captain had managed to only change his lower parts back to human. His head, arms and the upper part of his chest were still dragon. And worst of all, the dragon part was way bigger than the human part. It looked ridiculous.

"Luffy, what the hell are you trying to do?" Zoro asked. He couldn't prevent a small snicker to leave his mouth. The teen was trying not to fall over. The dragon part was way heavier than his human part which made it difficult to stay balanced. 'Don't laugh! I was just experimenting.' The half-dragon half-human said. The weight of his upper body then got the best of him and he fell over. 'Dammit..'

Luffy tried to change his head and arms back too, but when he did that his back became human too and the wings vanished. "Oh come on! I was so close!" The teen yelled in frustration. He transformed back into a dragon, ready to try again. 

"Isn't it a bit exhausting to transform that often? You're sweating a lot." Zoro said to the dragon. The teen snorted. 'You're the one to talk. You trained so hard that it looks like you just came out of a bathtub.' The dragon replied back.

"Hey Luffy! You up there?" A voice yelled from outside, making two men inside freeze. Zoro quickly went over to the window to look who was there and saw that Usopp was already climbing the ladder towards the training room. "Luffy, Usopp is on his way up. Quick, change back." He said to the teen. Luffy didn't have to be told twice and immediately started to transform.

It was a race against the clock. The sounds of someone climbing came closer and closer. Finally, the last of Luffy's dragon form was back to human and the teen made a dash for his clothes. Just when he pulled his pants up Usopp entered the room. 

"Hey Luffy, I was wondering if you-" The sniper cut himself off. In front of him he saw Luffy and Zoro. They were both shirtless, sweating and he saw how Luffy pulled the last bit of his pants up. They looked at him like he had caught them doing something he shouldn't know about.

Usopp blushed madly. "I-I'll be going now. Sorry for interrupting." The marksman stammered. He then left faster than he had appeared.

The two men looked at each other and shrugged. "What's with him? He acts a bit strange." Luffy said. "I don't know. Probably just being weird." The swordsman answered. "Do you think he saw me?" The rubberman asked his friend. Zoro shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

"Hey Zoro?" The first mate looked at the teen. "Do you know how long it took me to change?" His captain asked. Zoro thought about it and shook his head. Luffy smiled. "I did it in twenty-two seconds. That's a new record!" He semi-yelled excited. Zoro smiled too. "You're really getting better." He said. They then went back to what they were doing.

* * *

Usopp jumped the last few feet down from the ladder and walked to the bathroom. He splashed some water in his face to see if he was awake or if he was having some kind of weird freaky dream. He then pinched his arm to be sure. He was awake.

'Come on, Usopp. What you saw wasn't what you thought you saw. They were just training or something..without their clothes..' He thought to himself. Seriously, what he saw wasn't what he thought he saw. It couldn't be, right?

He fished his notebook out of his pocket and wrote down what he just had witnessed. Whenhe was done, he looked at the other things he had seen. And, to be frankly, he was surprised to see so many things he had written down that could be a sign of a relationship between the two.

There were small things that you didn't really could count as a sign, like Zoro and Luffy both napping (Luffy sleeping in the swordsman's lap) or Zoro willingly giving his captain the remainder of his food. Usopp was sure those things were already happening when he first met them, but now he was looking for clues of a potential relationship, those things just stood out.

Also, the two of them were spending a lot of time together on or off the ship. These past few weeks Zoro and Luffy had gone together onto the islands they docked at. When he or an other crew member offered to Luffy to go exploring with him, he would decline and take Zoro with him instead. And the swordsman didn't even complain about it!

On the ship they were together a lot too. Most of the time they were in the crow's nest training or something. This happened before too, but now it happened more often and they were longer up there.

Then, there were the bigger 'signs'. So had the two once come back to the ship with Luffy's clothes ripped in pieces. Like they had been opened by a sword or something like that. Sure, could have been anything, but that didn't explain other things that had happened to the two. Luffy had more than once returned without any clothes (he would have Zoro's coat draped around himself) and say that he had lost them. 

Luffy losing clothes was normal, so nothing weird about that.. except that there was no reason at all for Luffy to take his clothes off. The only reason Usopp could think of for himself to take his clothes off in the middle of no-were was to swim in a lake or something like that. Luffy can't swim because of his devil fruit power.

So, why did he take his clothes off? Usopp couldn't think of many reasons. Of course, his perverted side began to think of the things his crew mates could be doing together there. 

This and all the other things scribbled down in his notebook began to add up. What other reason could there be for these things to happen other than a relationship?

Usopp sighed and returned his notebook in his pocket. He shouldn't tell the girls yet. He just wasn't sure about it. There could still be an other reason for all this, right?

* * *

"Has he arrived yet? I expected him to be here a few days ago. What's taken him so long!" A man yelled at his subordinate, even though the poor man couldn't do anything about the situation. 

"I-I don't k-know, Boss." The man said before crying out in fear and backing up when his boss spammed his fist down on his desk. The man sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"Lars, how much did he agree on?" The man asked one of the other men in the room. "He wants fifty percent of the profit, but I'm sure we can negotiate about that." Lars said to his boss. The other man sighed. Why did that man always want so much. He must know by now that he didn't get more than thirty.

"How about Sergio? How much did he want?" The man questioned. "He wanted ten percent. He said he didn't needed much right now." Lars replied. "And where is he right now? He is already here, but I haven't seen him around the past few days." The man asked. "He is in his room. He said he was going to prepare the things needed for the attack." The other man answered.

"Good. Now the only thing we have to do is wait on that moron. He should buy a calendar or something. He is always late." The boss said as he grabbed a pen to write something down.

"No need to wait. I'm here." A voice said. The man behind the desk looked up. The door of the room had been opened and a man stood in the doorway.

"Ah, finally! You're late again. You remember what day we agreed on, do you?" The boss said. The other man only laughed. "Yeah, I know. I went to visit a friend of mine. His island was on the route, so I thought why not pay him a visit." The man said. The man behind the desk sighed. "Well, at least you're here now. Take a seat. Let's talk about the payment, shall we?"

* * *

"We will be arriving at the next island in half an hour. The log pose sets in one day. We don't really need to restock on food (maybe just a little bit), so there is enough time to do something for yourself. We'll be leaving the island tomorrow afternoon." Nami told the crew as they neared the next island.

"Yes! A new island to explore!" Luffy yelled excited. He ran to the front of the ship and stood on the figure head, watching as they approached he next island.

"Hey Luffy, what are you gonna do on the island?" Usopp asked the rubberman as he approached the island. Luffy turned around to face his crew mate before answering. "I don't know. Probably go exploring or something with Zoro. Maybe we can find a treasure." His captain replied. Usopp nodded in understanding. "Can I come with you guys? Chopper said he was going to look for herbs to make some more rumble balls and I don't have anything to do." He said to Luffy.

"Uh.. I don't think that's a good idea. Me and Zoro already had planned to do something and we want to do it alone. So I think you should ask someone else." Luffy said to the sniper. Usopp raised his eyebrow. "Do something alone? What are you two going to do?" He asked. The other teen crossed his arms. "Something secret. You can't know about it." Luffy said.

The sniper sighed. "Well, I guess I'll have to ask the others. See you." He said. He waved goodbye and left. Luffy turned his gaze back to the island what was now a lot closer than when he last looked.

Usopp was about to go ask Franky if he could help him with something when he stopped dead in his tracks. What if he followed his captain and first mate? He was way too curious to know what the two of them were going to do on the island. 

But won't they notice him with their haki? That could be a problem. Well, whatever. It's not like they're going to kill him if they notice him.

Having decided what he was going to do he went back to the boys' cabin to grab the things he could need on the island, like his slingshot. You never know what kind of monsters are roaming around.


	6. Chapter 6

The Thousand Sunny docked at the island. The crew members all went to do their own things. Some stayed on the ship while others went to explore the island or something like that.

Usopp's eyes followed a certain duo as they left the ship. He had prepared himself for the island and all possible dangers that came with it. He just had to wait until Luffy and Zoro were far enough so they wouldn't notice him following them.  
Suddenly, Nami's voice called him. "Usopp, come here for a second." She said. He immediately walked over to her (he was too afraid of her and her wrath to not do that).

Nami was standing with her arms crossed near the door leading to the kitchen. The sniper stopped in front of her. "Did you find out anything yet?" She asked. Why of all times had she to ask him that now? 

"M-maybe, I don't know.." He stammered. Her eyes tore through his soul. Why was that woman so scary? "What did you find out?" She asked. He didn't want to tell what he had found yet since he wasn't sure if it was real.

"Well, your theory isn't impossible.." He said. "But..?" Nami asked again, hearing him trailing off at the end. "But it could also be something else entirely. I need some more time to be completely sure." He finished.

Nami nodded in understanding. "Alright, take all the time you need.." Usopp sighed in relief. "..However, I'll raise your dept for keeping me waiting." She finished. She then left with a smile. Usopp sighed. He didn't even remember the amount of money he owed the navigator, but he didn't care either.

Remembering what he was going to do, he sprinted to the rail and looked around for his two crew mates. The captain and swordsman were long gone. Usopp groaned in annoyance. How the hell was he going to find them now?

'Let's start searching then..' He thought. He jumped over board and ran towards the forest the two of them were walking to when he last saw them. He had to catch up fast or he wouldn't be able to find them again today.

* * *

Zoro scanned his surroundings, looking for any sign of life. He was standing alone in a clearing in the woods, two swords in his hands. There were no sounds except for the chirping of the birds and the wind blowing softly though the trees.

A branch snapped somewhere on his right. Then a rustle of leaves on his left. The swordsman focused on the sounds the beast that surrounded him made.

The sounds faded away. Somewhere in the distance, a tree fell down and an other one swayed dangerously. The man focused on the tree, not bothering to look anywhere else.

Luffy just can't do a surprise attack. He's way to loud..

Suddenly, the large dragon soared through the air at an amazing speed. The tail with the blade came dangerously close to the swordsman, who deflected the blade with one of his swords. The dragon continued gliding over the clearing before disappearing again in the woods. The loud noise of breaking trees scared a few birds who fled immediately from the racket.

'Well, it is an improvement..' Zoro thought. The attack was a lot faster than the previous ones. Sure, it wasn't really flying, but the dragon could stay in the air for a good while now. He did need to jump off of something though.

Luffy burst in the clearing, all kinds of leaves and pieces of wood stuck on the dragon. 'That was pretty good, right? I was really fast this time!' The teen yelled happily.

"Yes, it was. You have to be quieter thought. I bet even a deaf person could hear you. Maybe you could try to not break down any trees next time." Zoro said earning a pout from Luffy. 'Hey, it's not my fault that those trees are not strong enough to hold this body.' The young dragon replied. 

Then, both men froze. They sensed someone approaching with their haki. They stared in the direction where they sensed the present. They recognized the present and it didn't feel threatening. 

"You sense that too, right? Who do you think it is?" Zoro asked his captain. 'It feels like Usopp. I thought I told him not to come.' The red dragon said. 'He's coming this way at a fast pace.' He added. 

Luffy then changed back to his human form and put on his clothes. When he was done he looked at Zoro. It had been their plan to do what they were doing the whole day. But now Usopp's nearby. It's too risky to continue. Maybe they could continue when the sniper left.

Usopp's present stopped a few meters away behind some trees. The duo stared in that direction. Why didn't he come out from behind the trees? Was he going to stalk them or something?

"So, what are we going to do now?" Zoro asked quietly. Luffy shrugged. "I don't know. We could look if there's something fun to do here. Let's go exploring!" He suggested happily. The swordsman face palmed. Of course the teen would want to do that. He himself didn't really enjoy exploring things that much. He just wanted to train or something.

With his mind made up, Luffy grabbed Zoro's arm and tugged the male along as he left the clearing. "Maybe we'll find some kind of treasure! That would be so cool!" He yelled and speeded up his pace. Zoro groaned. This was going to be a long day..

* * *

Usopp watched as the two of them disappeared in the forest. He waited a few seconds before following the two. He wasn't sure if they had noticed him yet. When he arrived they were just standing in the clearing without doing anything. Had they just finished doing something or had they stopped because they knew he was coming in their direction? He had heard a lot of noise coming from here and he had passed some broken trees on the way. Just what were the two of them doing?

Zoro and Luffy were talking to each other while they walked through the woods. Well, more like Luffy was talking to the swordsman, who was being dragged along by him. Zoro looked quite annoyed. He was looking angry in Usopp's direction. Jup, the swordsman had most likely noticed him.

This didn't stop the sniper from following the pair though. It could be coincidence that Zoro was looking in his direction. Well, whatever..

* * *

"Wow.. We actually found treasure." Zoro muttered as he stared at the heap of jewelry in front of them. "I knew we would! Look at this!" Luffy said as he turned around to face the swordsman. He had all kinds of bracelets, necklaces, rings and other kinds of jewelry hung on himself. A golden crown was set on top of his strawhat.

"Beautiful Luffy." Zoro said sarcastic. "Should we take all of it with us? It's a lot of jewelry. I don't think it fits in the bag. It's not like we really need it anyway." The older man said. It was most certainly not going to fit in the bag. The pile was almost as big as the two of them combined.

"We'll just take as much as we can. The rest is for the next person to find it." Luffy said as he started to put the most shiny things in the bag. It didn't take long to fill the bag. The bag wasn't that big because it was normally only used for Luffy's clothes.

"Alright, let's go back to the ship." Zoro said. He looked around in the cave they were in. "That way." He decided and walked in a random direction. "Zoro, I pretty sure it's the opposite way." Luffy said as he pointed at an other tunnel. He still had some jewelry on him. Nami was probably going to be mad when she hears they left some of the treasure behind. Why was there a pile jewelry in a cave to begin with?

The two of them then walked in the direction Luffy pointed at. The cave they were in was like a maze. They should have looked where they were going when they entered it.

* * *

Usopp sighed as he watched the captain and his first mate walk through one of the many tunnels in the cave. They were going the wrong way, like always. 

He couldn't blame them entirely. The cave was huge and had a lot of tunnels. They all looked the same in his eyes. Of course, he himself wouldn't have any trouble finding a way out. He was smart enough to drop little stones he had found at the entrance of the cave on his way through the tunnels.

Usopp smiled to himself and followed the small stones through the cave. Halfway through the tunnels the trail of stones stopped. The sniper blinked. What the hell? Suddenly, a small bat flew down and grabbed another stone with its front paws. The animal then stopped in mid-air and ate the stone in one bite.

"Hey, those are my stones! Keep your paws off!" Usopp yelled before realizing that he was being too loud. He hoped that Luffy and Zoro didn't hear him. The bat made another attempt to get one of the stones, but Usopp shot the creature out of the air.

The little bat hit the ground hard and made a loud squeaking noise. Usopp was about to continue on his way out when he heard the flapping of wings. He slowly turned around. There were huge bats hovering in the air. The little bat, probably a baby, flew up and pointed one of its paws in the sniper's direction. The larger bats then screeched loudly.

Well shit..

'Ok, screw this. I'm going to the other two.' Usopp thought as he ran away, bats flying after him. The only problem was that he had no idea where the two of them were. He was so focused on his way out that he lost track of them. He shot one of the bats that was way to close down, but the winged creature got back up and continued following him.

'That's it. I'm gonna die.' The sniper thought as he ran through the tunnels.

* * *

Luffy and Zoro walked through the cave looking for the exit, unknowing of their terrified crew member running for his life.

"I have the feeling that we've been here before.." The rubberman said. He stared at the rabbit-shaped rock which they passed for the fourth time now. "You sure? Could be an other rock. They all look the same." The swordsman said. "No, I'm sure we've seen this rock before." Luffy said. They were now both staring at the rock in silence like it was some piece of art.

Then, out of nowhere, Usopp ran into Luffy. The captain then collided with Zoro, almost sending the three of them crashing to the floor. 

Luffy and Zoro looked at Usopp and the bats in confusion. Usopp, now realizing who he ran into, hid behind Luffy. The bats attacked the three, but didn't get the chance to do any harm as Zoro cut most of them down. Luffy started to punch the remaining bats, sending them flying through the cave. 

Luffy looked at the last few bats as they flew away. Their wings looked a lot like his. 'Will I ever be able to fly like those bats?' He thought.

Usopp watched as the bats disappeared in the darkness of the cave. He sighed in relief. He wouldn't die today after all. He then looked at the other two men who were looking at him. "Usopp, I thought I said you couldn't come?" Luffy said to the sniper. Usopp looked away. "I'm sorry.." He said.

Luffy's frown turned into a smile. "Well, it doesn't matter now. Let's get back to the ship. Sanji and Nami will be pissed if we return late again." He said and started walking again. The other two men followed their captain.

* * *

It took them about half an hour to get out of the cave. An other group of bats had attacked them on their way out, though they were dealt with quickly. 

Usopp sighed in relief as they exited the cave. "Man, those bats sure were scary. I think I'll hate all winged creatures for the rest of my life." He said. Unknown to him Luffy looked a bit uneasy about that phrase. Would Usopp hate him too if he knew what he was?

The sky had already started to darken. As they made their way back to the Sunny they got a strange feeling. Not the good kind of strange. Something was wrong.

"You two feel that too, right?" Luffy asked. Usopp and Zoro both nodded. "We should hurry back to the ship. I don't like this one bit." The captain said and quickened his pace. He and the other two men made their way through the forest. The weird feeling got worse as time passed. Something was definitely very wrong. They burst out of the woods and ran towards the Thousand Sunny. They quickly climbed on board. The deck was quiet. Very quiet. No person on deck. All three of them split up and searched though the ship. They looked in every corner of every room. Nobody was on the ship beside them.

The crew was gone.

Luffy was in the kitchen. He was slightly panicked now. The crew was nowhere to find and it didn't look like they went away on their own. The dinner table was set and there was food burning on the stove. Sanji would never leave dinner unattended.

"Luffy, come over here!" Zoro yelled outside. Luffy left the kitchen and ran over to his first mate, who was standing next to the mast.

"There was a note. It's for you." The swordsman said and handed the piece of paper to his captain. The rubberman snatched the paper and his eyes scanned the note. He felt his blood began to boil with anger as he read the paper over and over again.

"We need to chase them now. Get the ship ready to sail immediately." He said to his remaining crew members. The two nodded and got to work. The young captain read the note one last time before he put it in his pocket and went to help his friends. 

It didn't take the three of them long to get the ship sailing. The sky was completely dark now. Usopp was steering the Sunny since he had done that before. The coordinates of the place they had to go to were in the note. Zoro was sitting against the rail. He was trying to catch some sleep, but he couldn't. He had failed to protect the crew. He felt like he was partly responsible for their capture.

Luffy was sitting on the figure head watching the sea and the sky. He was thinking about the rest of the crew. Were they hurt? How did they manage to get captured? They all had become so strong in the last two years. Were they not strong enough? Was he not strong enough?

"Luffy, you don't have to worry. Everything is going to be alright." Zoro said. Luffy jumped slightly. He hadn't noticed him approaching. "But still.. If they were able to take out the crew, then they must have some kind of tactic. Those people aren't that strong." The teen said. "You have a point there." Zoro said. 

They were silent for a little while, just looking at the sea. Luffy sighed. "Maybe I should do what they say and trade myself for the crew." The teen said. Zoro hit him on the head lightly. "We're not going to do that, idiot. I'm not letting you throw your life away for something like this. Like I said, we're going to get through this. It's going to be alright." The first mate said to his captain. 

The younger man continued to look at the sea as Zoro left his side. It would take few hours to get to the island the note spoke of. It was so frustrating not to know what the condition of the others was. This was all his fault. They wanted to have him, not the crew.

'We'll get you guys back. I promise..'


	7. Chapter 7

When Sanji opened his eyes, all he could see was darkness. He tried to move his arms and legs, but he wasn't able to. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark room. 

When he was finally able to see, he noticed that he wasn't alone in the room. Most of the crew was there as well. The only ones missing were Usopp, Zoro and Luffy. Those three weren't there when they were attacked. He also noticed that he was in fact pinned to the wall and not laying down as he originally thought.

The cook looked down at his arms to see what was holding them down. There were metal straps on them, attaching them to the wall. He guessed his legs were in the same condition. The rest of the crew was in the same position as he was. He seemed to be the only one awake right now.

He groaned, tugging at the restrains. The straps didn't budge an inch. Frustration grew in him. Damn, why had they underestimated them so much? Did they even have a chance of winning?

It's all the fault of those two bastards..

\- Flashback-

The sun was starting do go down and most of the crew was back. Dinner was almost ready. Luffy and Zoro were not back yet, like always. Usopp was not back either. 

'They better be back before dinner or they won't get any food.' Sanji thought, but knowing him, the three would still get their meal. Hungry people (and women of course) were his weak point. 

"Guys, there are strangers approaching the Sunny!" Franky suddenly yelled at the others. Some of the crew stood up to see what he was talking about while others just continued doing whatever they were doing, trusting their friends to take care of the situation.

Sanji walked out of the kitchen and to the rail to take a look. There were indeed two men approaching the ship. They didn't seem to be posing any threat to the crew, but somehow Sanji wasn't completely reassured. He didn't know why, but he had a weird feeling about the men.

"Can we help you with something?" Sanji asked the men. One of them, the skinny, long-haired man, answered. "You could come with us without resist, but I don't think you would do that, am I right?" He said. Sanji frowned. "Why would we come with you? Trying to capture us?" He said in a somewhat mocking manner. The men didn't seem to be that strong and if there was something needed to take care of the strawhat crew, then it was strength.

The skinny man sighed. "I take that as a sign to take you all with force." He said. The men then jumped on board. Sanji and a few others took a fighting stance. The men just stood there. The long-haired man seemed to be waiting on something. 

"Dammit Dean, you're gonna do it or what? We don't have all day!" The man finally snapped at his companion. The other man, who was slightly shorter and had a little more muscle than the other man, groaned. "I get paid way too little for this.." He said before holding up his hands. A small, white ball of light formed between his hands.

'Crap, he's a devil fruit user!' Sanji thought. He began to move to attack the men, but he was too late. The man, Dean, threw the ball of light towards the crew where it exploded in some kind of shock wave. The wave of light hit everyone on the ship, except of the two strangers.

Everyone froze, but not because they wanted to. They just couldn't move. No matter how much they tried, they just couldn't move a muscle. They were literally frozen in place. The only thing they could do was breath and watch their enemy's next move.

Dean grinned. "Alright. Now, do your job Sergio." He said to the other man. Sergio grabbed his bag, which Sanji hadn't noticed before, and opened it. He took out a spray bottle.

The man walked towards the closest person near him, Franky, and sprayed some kind of liquid in the cyborg's face with the spray bottle. Franky couldn't do anything to stop him. Not even five seconds later the cyborg passed out. His body was still standing because of the other guy's weird power. 

Sergio then walked over to Robin. The cook wanted to attack the man, yell not to touch the lady. He tried with all his might to break free from the man's power. But he couldn't. He was forced to watch as the man sprayed whatever it was in Robin's face. He was forced to watch her eyes roll in the back of her head. 

The man with the spray bottle then walked over to Sanji. He held the bottle up to his face and sprayed. The cook tried not to breathe in, holding his breath for as long as he could. Sergio continued to the next person. 

Not even a minute had passed before everyone was unconscious. Sanji's lungs were burning for air. He just couldn't hold it any longer. At the same time he breathed in, his body was released from the man's power. He fell to the ground, his body not strong enough to hold him up. The spray had taken effect and he was losing consciousness fast.

The last thing he saw before he passed out was a ship approaching the Sunny. The same ship that had followed them ever since they entered the New World.

-Flashback end-

Sanji groaned. He was so angry at himself. He, as one of the monster trio, should have been able to keep the crew safe. Why couldn't he? He fought against his restrains. They still wouldn't budge. He couldn't break them.

He sighed. They'll just have to wait for the others to arrive. They would get them out for sure.

* * *

A few hours had passed since the sunrise. Luffy, Zoro and Usopp had already eaten their breakfast, though they didn't eat as much as they normally would, especially Luffy. The food they had made for themselves didn't even come close to what Sanji could make and they weren't that hungry to begin with. 

Usopp was sitting on the bench near the mast. Luffy had taken over the helm since the sharpshooter had steered the Sunny all night. Usopp was trying to catch some sleep, but just like the others he couldn't. He was worried about the crew.

Then there was the note. He hadn't had the opportunity to read anything that was written on the piece of paper before Luffy put it away, but he did hear who was responsible for their missing friends and that they wanted to trade them for his captain. Why did those people want their captain so badly? They didn't try to capture any of the other crew members except for him. If they were some kind of bounty hunters they would try to kill or capture all the members of the crew instead of only Luffy. Sure, the captain had the highest bounty on his head, but the rest of the crew were worth millions too. And bounty hunters would probably look for an other target when they realized that they couldn't defeat them.

In other words, the situation didn't really make sense. 

Usopp decided that he should probably ask Luffy and Zoro about this. Somehow, he had the feeling they knew more about this than they let on.

The sniper stood up and walked towards the place where his captain should be. Luffy was indeed still steering the ship. Zoro was standing next to him. They were not talking, just staring at the sea before them. They turned to face him when the sniper approached them.

"Hey guys, can I talk to you for a second?" Usopp asked the other two males. Both of them nodded. The teen took a deep breath before talking. "I.. I don't know what is going on, but at least one of you must know a little more than me. Luffy, why do they want you so badly? It can't be because of your bounty, because that wouldn't make sense. They would take everyone if they wanted to collect the money that's on our heads, not just you. Please, tell me. What is going on? What do they want from you?"

Luffy's eyes left Usopp's as he looked back at the ocean. Part of him was telling him to just tell the sharpshooter what he was. He was part of his crew, his friend. He deserved to know. But another part of him was yelling at him not to tell anything. The voice in his head was telling him that Usopp would hate him, hurt him, and, worst of all, leave the crew again.

But than again, Zoro told him he didn't need to worry about it. The crew loves him and that wouldn't change, even if he was a little different than them. He's still the same person, right? He didn't need to worry. Actually, he didn't even know why he was so hesitant about revealing himself to the crew. It was like some sort of instinct that wanted to keep the dragon inside secret.

Luffy turned to face his friends. His eyes met Zoro's only eye. The swordsman knew what he was going to do and nodded, encouraging him to tell the other man.

Luffy then looked at Usopp. The sniper looked back at him, waiting for him to tell him something. Anything that would at least explain a little about their situation.

Luffy sighed. How was he going to do this? He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck as he started to talk.

"Usopp, I'm not what you and the rest of the crew think I am. I'm not.. I'm not completely human. I know that it sounds weird and all, but.." He paused for a second.

"..I am part dragon."

Zoro gave a little smile, almost if saying 'Look, that wasn't that bad, right?'. Usopp, on the other hand, had an unreadable look on his face. Luffy waited for his reaction. 

Finally, Usopp started to talk. "So, you're saying that you are some kind of mythical beast without any of us knowing? Are you joking? This is not the time to joke around. I was serious about my question, you know." He said. Luffy sighed. "And I'm serious about my answer."

Usopp shook his head. "It's impossible. There's no way you're a dragon. You don't look like one at all!" He yelled.

Luffy looked a little troubled by the sniper's answer and looked at his first mate. The swordsman was a bit irritated by Usopp's reaction. Couldn't he at least try to understand? Luffy's eyes asked the swordsman for help. How could he convince the other man? He only could think of one way.

"Should I show him?" Luffy asked. Zoro nodded. It seemed like the only option they had.

Luffy took a few stepped away from the other men and started to take off his clothes. Usopp was taken aback by this. "Hey wait, why are you taking off your clothes?" He asked, slightly looking away when the rubberman removed his shorts (still not wearing underpants).

The captain took a deep breath and began to change his appearance. Usopp set a few steps backwards in shock, tripping over his own feet and landing on his rear. Zoro had seen it countless of times before, but he still found it very fascinating to watch. Usopp just watched the transformation in awe.

Not long after the change started, it ended. Luffy, now the big red and black dragon, looked down at the sharpshooter. Usopp looked back at the beast. The man didn't know what to say. He was really confused. Not even a minute ago he was looking at his captain, human captain, and now there was a huge dragon in front of him.

"W-what.. H-how.." Usopp stuttered. The creature took a step towards the sniper. Usopp backed up a little, unsure what the dragon wanted from him, temporarily forgetting that the beast was his kind-hearted captain.

The other teen's movements saddened Luffy a bit. Usopp seemed scared of his dragon form. The dragon stopped approaching the other man and sat down on the ground. 

'Do you believe me now, Usopp?' Luffy asked. The sniper jumped slightly at his friend's voice. Even though the dragon's mouth didn't move, the voice came from the direction of the beast.

"I-is that really you, Luffy?" Usopp asked a bit unsure. The dragon nodded. The sniper looked even more confused now. "B-but how? How is this possible? Why are you a dragon?" Usopp asked. The beast shrugged. 'Honestly, I have no idea..'

* * *

They were very close to their destination now. Luffy was back in his human form and he had told Usopp all he had to know about his dragon form. He also told the other teen that he and Zoro trained on the islands they docked at and in the training room.

Luffy and Usopp were now both sitting on deck. Zoro was steering the ship (he would hopefully not bring the ship off course). The teens were sitting in silence. It wasn't exactly a comfortable silence, so one of them decided to break it.

"Why didn't you tell us? We're your friends, right? You can trust us." Usopp said. Luffy sighed. He knew that question would come. "I don't know.. I guess I was afraid of your reactions. That and I didn't really know how to say it.." The rubberman replied.

The silence returned for another ten seconds before Usopp spoke again. "You know, what I said about hating winged creatures.. it doesn't apply to you. I don't hate you at all. Sorry if I made you think I did.." He said. Luffy gave a small smiled. The sniper continued. "And if I said something else that might have upset you, I apologize for that too." He said. Luffy smiled brighter. "Thank you, Usopp."

Usopp smiled back at the other man before standing up. "I'm going to check if we're still on track. You never know with Zoro." He said and walked in the direction of the steering wheel.

Now, Luffy was alone on the deck. He was still smiling. He was glad he told Usopp. He still needed to tell the others, but telling at least one person was a begin.

His mind then went to the rest of his crew. He wondered how they were doing. He missed them. It was really quiet on the ship right now. With only three people on the Sunny, the ship felt empty. He hated that feeling.

* * *

Half a day had passed now and the three of them had almost arrived at the place the coordinated led to. It was a small island without any vegetation. It looked like a big rock in the water.

The closer they came, the more they could see. One thing they could see were three ships docked at the island. One of the ships was a little bigger than the Thousand Sunny while the other two were not even half the size of their ship. There were no people to be seen.

Some time later the Sunny docked at the island. The three crew members went through their plan one last time. It wasn't really a plan, more like a back-up plan because it was almost impossible to let a certain rubberman follow plans. "Remember Luffy. You have ten minutes before we jump in action, so you better be done by then." Zoro said. The teen nodded.

Luffy then got off the ship and walked in the direction of the biggest ship. That's where his crew was. At least, that's what the note said. He just hoped that they were okay.

Now, he had to get the crew out and beat up those stupid people. They didn't know what the plan of those people was, but if they were smart enough to take the crew, then they must have a good one. They needed to be prepared for everything.

Luffy approached the enemy's ship, his hat shading half of his face. 

It's time to get his crew back.


	8. Chapter 8

Luffy approached the enemies' ship. He couldn't see anyone on or near the ship. He jumped on deck and looked around. Still no one in sight. He used his haki to detect his enemy. They were all inside the ship, his crew too. He could feel one of the enemy coming in his direction. Then, one of the doors opened. A man stood in the doorway. 

"We were expecting you." The man said. "Where is my crew?" Luffy asked, a frown on his face. The man turned around and began walking back inside. "Follow me if you want to see your crew." He said. Luffy did what the man said and followed him inside.

Luffy knew this was probably a trap. In fact, he was sure of it. But if he went to search for them himself he would probably wreck and sink the ship before he found them. He didn't want to endanger his friends any further, so he followed his enemy.

The man did indeed take him to his crew. He could himself getting closer with every step he took. The man in front of him opened one final door and they entered a dimly lit room. 

At the other side of the room Luffy could see his friends. They were all held against the wall by metal straps. They were all conscious and looking at him.  
"Guys!" Luffy yelled and ran towards his friends. Halfway through the room he was stopped by someone standing in front of him.

"Stop right there, Strawhat." The man said. Luffy's eyes narrowed and he took a fighting stance. The man grinned evilly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. If you attack me, they die. If you try to use haki to knock us all out, they die. See that camera over there?" He asked pointing to a snail in the corner of the room. "Someone on an other location is watching us right now. If you do something we don't like, he will push a button that activates a device that will inject your friends with a deadly poison. So you better obey or say goodbye to your crew." The man finished.

Luffy cursed under his breath and lowered his hands from their fighting position. So this was the plan those bastards had come up with. His enemy could be bluffing, but he didn't want to try it out.

The man smiled. "I want to propose a fair trade. You for them. What do you think?" The man asked. This got an immediate response from the crew behind him. They all started to yell at Luffy not to do it. That they were not worth it.

Luffy, on the other hand, didn't even think of refusing the offer. They were his crew, his friends. They were everything he had. He had to take the offer.

He didn't want to lose anyone ever again.

"You have a deal." Luffy said without any hesitation. His friends protested loudly against his decision. The rubberman looked at his friends and gave a small smile as to reassure them it would be alright.

"Alright then. Good choice." The man said. He walked to the side of the room towards a cage Luffy hadn't noticed before. The enemy opened the cage's door and looked back at Luffy. 

"You need to go in here. Then I'll release your crew." He said. Luffy walked to the cage, but stopped a few feet before it. 

"How can I be sure you won't do anything to my crew when I step into the cage?" The young captain asked as he glared at the other man. 

"You can't." The man grinned. "But I promise I'll release them as soon as you're in the cage. I don't need them anyway. They're not worth my time and effort." He said. He then looked at the snail in the corner of the room and signed something. A few seconds later the wall where crew was pinned upon started to move. It started to turn and Luffy could clearly see the sea and sky at the other side of the wall. 

"As soon as you're in the cage, my friend will open the straps on your friends' bodies and release them into the sea below. You have my word. Unless you changed your answer.." The enemy said.

Luffy still wasn't fully convinced, but it was not like he had much choice but to obey the man. The lives of his crew were on the line.

The rubberman sighed and walked towards the cage. He was about to enter the cage when he tripped over something. As soon as he hit the floor in the cage, he felt his strength being sapped away. The whole cage was made of seastone.

Luffy weakly turned his head to see what made him fall. The man outside the cage grinned down at him, his foot stretched out in front of him. He had tripped him.

"I will now release your friends, just as promised." The man said. He looked once more at the snail in the corner of the room and gave a thumbs up. The metal straps on the crew's bodies then opened and the crew fell down.

Luffy could hear his friends hit the water. He sighed in relief. They were as good as safe.

The young captain turned his attention back at the man near the entrance of the cage. The man was staring at him like he was some sort of prize. He tried to get up, but he couldn't. The seastone made him too weak to move.

"Finally. After all this time I finally have you in my possession." The man said with a big smile. Luffy frowned and asked a question that had been on his mind for a long time. "Why did you keep following me even though we won every time you attacked? Why didn't you search for an other target? Wouldn't that have been easier?"

"Do you know what you are?" The man asked. Luffy slowly shook his head. The man grinned. "You are from a very old species of dragon. One of the most powerful dragons species to ever exist. The Maxus Dragons." The man said. He seemed to be proud to know this information.

Luffy tilted his head. "Maxus Dragons?" He asked. The man nodded.

To be honest, Luffy really didn't want to talk to this bastard. The only reason he needed the man to talk more was because he needed to buy his crew some time. His best bet to get out of here was to wait until ten minutes had passed.

"Can you tell me what Maxus Dragons are? Where they're from?" Luffy asked. The man raised an eyebrow. Why did the other man want to know information like that? Not that he minded talking about it.

The man leaned against the still open door of the cage and began to talk. "From what I know, Maxus Dragons are the smartest kind of dragons. They're very powerful, too. Ever since the discovery of these dragons, humans hunt them for their supposingly healing blood. 

Thousands of years ago, to protect themselves from humans, they started to evolve to look and act more like the creatures that hunted them. After years and years of evolving, they finally were able to transform from a dragon to human at will after they became a certain age. Some were even born as humans who eventually could change into dragons."

However, their effort was wasted when their trick became known to humans. The humans used all kinds of methods to find and kill the dragons. Now, so many years later, the species is almost extinct. There has only been reported one sighting in the last 100 years and that was a little over nineteen years ago."

Luffy's eyes widen at that last sentence. Nineteen years ago? That was around the time he was born. He couldn't possibly mean..

The man knew what the rubberman was thinking and continued his story. "You know, it wasn't just coincidence that we found you. We have been following you ever since you entered the Grand Line. You just never noticed.

The last Maxus Dragon reported was captured and killed about nineteen years ago. It was a female, and pregnant. Unfortunately, the baby was stolen by his father just after the dragon gave birth. The man wasn't able to free his wife though. She was killed that same day when she, too, tried to escape.

We got a lot of money for her body parts and blood. Since the baby was possibly the only one left of his species we wanted him too. So we kept track of him. You are worth way more money than the bounties of you and your crew combined." The man finished.

Luffy didn't know what to say. It was a lot of information to take in. Not only did he now know what he was, he also discovered who his mother was. And apparently, she was dead. She was killed by this bastard and his men.

Even though he never knew the woman in question, he still felt some kind of grief. He also felt angry at the man. He had killed someone for money. Luffy hates this kind of people.

The young captain had no idea how long had passed since he entered the ship, but it had to be around time now. 

The man took a step back from the cage and grabbed the door. "I'll be leaving now. I still need to do a lot of things." He said and began closing the door of the cage. Just as he was about to lock it, the ship was struck by something.

The ship shook and almost capsized by the force of the blow. The shock caused the man to fall backwards to the other side of the room. The door of the cage swung open again and Luffy tumbled out. 

Luffy grinned. He stood up and ran towards the door of the room. He would deal with that bastard later. 

He hoped that the Sunny wasn't too badly damaged. He used his haki to sense his crew. They were all on the Thousand Sunny. They were fighting with some of the members of the group.

He ran through the ship, searching for the exit. After a little while he finally found it and bursted though the door. It was chaos on deck. Half of the enemies were fighting on his ship while the other half was trying to repair the other ship so it wouldn't sink (there was a big hole in the side of the ship).

The fight between the strawhats and their opponents didn't last long. After only a few minutes all the enemies were down. There were only a few people remaining. One of them was recognized by most of the crew.

"Luffy! One of those guys is a devil fruit user. He can make you unable to move." Sanji yelled at his captain, who was still on the ship of the enemy. Luffy narrowed his eyes. That guy must have had a hand in capturing his crew. 

"Guys, get out of here. I'll handle it." Luffy said. If that guy really could make them immobile, he couldn't risk his crew. They had to get away. "I'll join you as soon as I'm done."

There was some protest from his friends, but they left anyway. They started to sail away, but stayed within reach of Luffy's rubber powers so he could rocket himself to them.

Luffy took a fighting stance, ready to attack as soon as anyone made a move. The man who he talked with inside the ship (now that he thought of it, he was probably the leader) shouted something at the other men and they attacked.

The rubberman took immediately action and attacked as well. His intention was to eliminate the fruit user first, but after a few good hits he lost sight of him. There were just too many other people around him. One after another fell unconscious on deck or over the rail. 

Suddenly, he froze. Dammit. He had unconsciously given the devil fruit user time to use his power on him. The other members of the group, who weren't under the control of the devil fruit power, didn't hesitate to attack the now immobile teen. 

Luffy flared out his haki and almost all of the people left on the ship fell down. The last two, the leader and the devil fruit user, looked a little bit unsteady on their feet but didn't fall over. The fruit user walked over to the rubberman while clutching his arm. It seemed to be broken.

"This is payback for my arm!" He yelled. He pulled his good arm back and struck the pirate captain in the face. The blow sent the teen flying backwards and off the ship. 

Luffy saw the water getting closer and closer, but he couldn't do anything. Even if he regained his mobility before he hit the water, he doubts that he'll be able to reach the ship in time with his arm.

He felt his power drain away as soon as he hit the water. His devil fruit causing him to sink fast. Even though he didn't want to think it, he was almost sure the crew wouldn't get him in time. They were too far away.

He hated the feeling of being helpless, like he was right now. The feeling of wanting to just give in and release the last bit of air left in his lungs was overwhelming. But he couldn't. 

The salty water of the sea pricked his eyes as they widen. No, he had to get back. He couldn't die yet. He still had so many things to accomplish. 

He had to become the pirate king. He had to return Shanks' hat. He couldn't let Ace's sacrifice go to waste. And what if those bastards try to hurt his friends again?

He tried to gather all the strength he could. Maybe it would be enough to swim to the surface. Maybe he could win enough time for someone to get him out of the water.

If he just could gather enough power..

* * *

The leader ran to the railing. He searched the water for any sign of the other man. He cursed and turned around to face the cause of all this.

"Dean! What the hell were you thinking?! We wasted years on him! Why did you have to punch him so far away?" The man yelled angry. The devil fruit user shrugged. "I didn't think he was going to fly that far." He replied.

The other man groaned in annoyance. "Dammit! There goes our money." He sighed. He then looked in the direction of the Thousand Sunny. "Let's just capture them. It'll be way less money than I could have gotten for the dragon, but it's better than nothing.." He said. "Go get Sergio from his ship. We can use his help." He told the other man.

He was about to walk off when a faint light caught his eye. He turned back around and saw a light deep down under the surface of the water.

* * *

-A little bit earlier on the Sunny-

The crew watched as their captain froze in mid-fight. Some of the crew cursed as they saw their now immobile captain being attacked. The rubberman's display of haki had some of them sigh in relief.

"Should we go help him?" Usopp asked. He received no answer. They had been told to stay away. 

However, they didn't get much time to decide what to do as suddenly the fruit user punched their captain hard. Their panicked eyes followed the teen as he flew through the sky and landed in the ocean.

"Oh no, Luffy! We have to get him out of the water!" Chopper yelled as he ran towards the rail. He would have jumped in to save his captain if Usopp hadn't picked him up. "No, you can't jump in. You'll drown too!"

Zoro cursed and looked at Franky. "How fast can you get us over there?" He asked. "It'll take about five minutes to get there. Might be longer. He is quite far away." The shipwright answered. "Then go and start sailing! We can't waste any more time!" The swordsman yelled. The cyborg nodded and ran to the helm.

"Hey guys! Look at that!" Sanji's voice called. Zoro turned around and ran back to the rail. There was a light underwater at the place where Luffy fell in the sea.

"What is it? Is it Luffy?" Nami asked no one in particular. Nobody knew.

The light then started to move. Slow at first, but getting faster as seconds passed. It moved under the surface towards the ship of the enemy.

Then, suddenly, something jumped out of the water.


	9. Chapter 9

Luffy didn't know why, but he felt his power returning. The drained feeling he got from the seawater slowly disappeared. However, this didn't help the fact that he was still several meters below the surface and didn't know how to swim.

The lack of oxygen made it hard to think clearly. He needed to find a way to get out of the water before he drowned. His hazy mind could only think of one solution. Transforming into his dragon form. That way he would be able to swim. 

He didn't know if it was going to work, but he would die for sure if he didn't try.

He started to change. Somehow, it felt different from his previous transformations. He just couldn't pinpoint what was different. 

The change ended as quickly as it started. The teen, now dragon, floated in the water deep under the surface. His eyes adjusted to the salty water. He could now see everything around him clearly, even things in the distance.

Around him swam countless types of fish who watched him curiously. Some kinds of seaweed floated around in the water as well. Far away he could see the undersides of a few ships. 

He recognized one of the ships as the Thousand Sunny. He had seen the bottom of his ship countless of times when he fell into the ocean. The other three ships were those of the enemy.

Anger flared up inside of him. Those bastards! They captured his crew and used them as bait to get him. This wasn't something he could forgive so easily. He still needed to kick their asses!

The water around him seemed to light up as he slowly began to swim towards the ships. Or maybe it was him who was radiating light. He didn't know and, frankly, he didn't care either.

He began to speed up his pace. He was now approaching the ships at a fast speed. His eyes settled on the biggest ship. That's where those bastards were last time he saw them.

When he was close enough to the ship, he jumped out of the water and landed on deck in front of the two shocked men.

* * *

The ship shook when the dragon landed. The men both set a step back in shock. The beast growled and began to make his way towards the two men.

"What the hell?!" Dean, the devil fruit user, yelled. How was this possible? The strawhat pirate he accidentally punched over board had a devil fruit power. How did he manage to get enough strength to transform in the seawater?

The dragon opened his mouth. White fire danced in his mouth and the flames licked the sharp teeth. Anger could clearly be seen in the dragon's bright golden eyes as he looked at the two men in front of him. The white light around the beast made him look godlike.

Both men swallowed nervously. The beast was intimidating. A feeling of fear settled in them. They could feel the power almost radiating from the dragon. Was there any way to defeat such a creature?

Dean tried using his devil fruit power, but it didn't seem to have any effect on the dragon. He cursed. Their plan to capture this monster had failed and the possibilities of capturing him while he was in this state were very slim.

The other man, the leader, took another step back in fear. They needed to get out of here. They had to flee. If this is what he thinks it is, then they were in big, big trouble.

"Let's get out of here!" The devil fruit user yelled. The other man didn't have to be told twice. He turned around and ran towards the railing. However, they didn't come far. The dragon took a deep breath and spat his fire. The deck around the two men caught on fire, keeping them trapped in a big circle.

The creature began to close in on them. The humans started walking backwards. The leader accidentally stood on something. He looked down to see one of the swords of his fallen subordinates. He bent down and grabbed the weapon.

He was scared, but he decided he had to be brave. Just for a little while. Just long enough to try to kill the beast in front of him. 

The man gave a loud battle cry and ran towards the dragon, sword raised in the air. The creature didn't move. When the man was close enough, the dragon swung his tail. The blade on the tail sliced right through the sword and barely missed the man.

The leader fell backwards in shock, the handle on the now broken weapon still in his hand. The dragon stood over him, his mouth opened slightly. White fire lit up the insides of the creatures mouth.

This was how he would die, he was sure of it. He could hear the dragon breathing above him. He could feel the warmth of the monster. He knew the dragon was getting ready to finish him off. The man closed his eyes and waited for the finishing blow.

The blow never came. From behind him he heard Dean grabbing something from the ground with his non-broken arm. The devil fruit user then ran to the dragon and swung a sword at the creature's head. The dragon pulled his head back just in time to avoid getting decapitated. The sword only managed to gaze his cheek.

A little trail of blood flowed down from cut on the creature's cheek. But the blood wasn't red. It was white, just like the dragon's fire.

The leader's eyes widen at the sight of the blood. He hadn't seen this in over nineteen years. This was the supposedly healing dragon blood. The blood that was worth millions, maybe even billions. The blood that became white when a Maxus Dragon was very, very angry.

The dragon growled loudly and swung his tail at the devil fruit user. It cut right through the sword and made a deep gash on the man's chest. Dean yelled out in pain and fell to the ground next to the leader.

They both looked at the dragon with fear in their. The dragon looked so much bigger than them now they were on the ground. They felt so powerless, so weak compared to this powerful creature.

The dragon opened his mouth and they were once again met with the white flames. They were going to die. They were sure of it. They could only wait and hope for mercy as the dragon took a deep breath, ready to burn them alive.

The dragon then seemed to rethink what he was going to do. He closed his mouth and jumped up from the deck. He jumped high enough to be able to see all three ships. The creature then opened his mouth again and took a deep breath.

White fire emerged from the dragon's mouth. All three ships caught on fire. The white flames were everywhere. Everywhere except near the people on deck. 

Someone exited one of the smaller ships. The man muttered something under his breath before going back inside again. Weird.

The dragon fell down on deck. He slowly walked back towards the two men on the ground. The men looked at him in fear. What was he going to do to them? The dragon leaned his head closer to the men and growled loudly before speaking.

'Go find an other job.'

The dragon then stood straight again and walked away. He climbed on the railing, not at all affected by him own white flames, and jumped down into the water below.

The leader watched his ship burn around him. Everything he owned was on this ship. This ship was his home. All his belongings and money was on this ship. And everything was burning.

"We have to get off this ship or we'll burn to death!" Dean yelled at the other man. The leader didn't reply, but he knew they had to get away too. But how? The whole ship, including the railing and other escape paths, was burning.

"Hey, if I were you I would hurry up and get over here." A voice suddenly said. The men both looked in the direction the voice came from. Sergio stood near a part of the railing that wasn't burning anymore. He must have put out the flames somehow.

The other men just stared at him for a little while. Sergio sighed when he got no response. "I don't know about you two, but I'm getting out of here. You can stay here on your ship if you want, but I don't think it will float for much longer." He said. The man then jumped over the railing and onto his ship. The two men on deck looked at each other before they stood up and ran after the third man.

When they reached the railing they saw that Sergio's ship was burned black, but not on fire anymore. The man on the smaller ship looked up at them. "Hurry up and come down here." He said. The other two men jumped down.

"Alright, let's get out of here." Sergio said. "Get to work. There's an inhabited island not far from here. I want to reach it before this ship breaks down." The other two nodded and started to make the ship sail worthy.

Sergio then remembered something. He turned to face the leader. "What about the rest of your group. They're still on your ship, right?" He asked. The leader thought about his subordinates. They had all been knocked out by the strawhat's haki earlier. He shrugged. "Leave them. I can find new people who are willing to follow me. Besides, we can't fit them all on this small ship."

"Whatever you say." Sergio replied. He didn't really care about those other guys anyway. "If we're lucky someone on the next island is willing to buy the expensive equipment you gave me. Too bad the other half is burning on your ship right now." He said.

The three of them then sailed away. They left without the strawhats noticing.

* * *

-A little while earlier on the Sunny-

The crew watched as the creature landed on deck of the enemy's ship. Almost everyone was shocked at the sight of the beast. Even Zoro and Usopp were surprised when they saw the dragon. They both had seen it before, but the dragon looked different.

The dragon still had his red colour, but the black strips were now white. They even seemed to radiate light.

The dragon opened his mouth and white fire could be seen. Zoro was slightly surprised at this. This was something new. He had once asked Luffy if he could breathe fire and the teen had told him that he hadn't been able to do that.

They watched as the two men on deck tried to run away. Before they could get far white fire closed in on them, effectively trapping them. One of the men then made an attempt to attack the beast, but he was easily defeated by the dragon.

"What the hell is that?!" Sanji said. It was the first time anyone had said something since the appearance of the dragon. Oh yeah, that's right. The rest of the crew didn't know that the dragon was their captain. Luffy never told them.

Zoro smirked. "Watch your mouth, love cook. That is your captain over there." He said. Everyone turned to face him. Confusion written all over their faces.

"What do you mean, Zoro? How do you know that's Luffy?" Chopper asked. "Let's save the talking for later. Go tell Franky to change course to the enemy's ship. Come back here when you two are done." Zoro ordered. Chopper nodded and ran to the helm.

The rest of the crew continued watching as one of the two men on the other ship tried to attack the dragon, who was apparently their captain. It didn't take the dragon long to take out this man as well.

Not a minute later their captain jumped in the air. He spat out his white fire and lit all three ships on fire. After that, he landed back on deck. The flames were now too high to see what was going on there.

A little while later the dragon emerged from the sea of flames and jumped into the ocean below. Some of the crew were slightly worried when their captain did this. As far as they knew the rubber teen couldn't swim. They sighed in relief when they saw that the dragon was swimming in their direction.

The dragon jumped on board of the Thousand Sunny when he was close enough. The strips on his body had gone back to their original black colour. The cut on his cheek had already healed somehow. He looked at his crew and the crew looked back at him.

He didn't really know what to do. He felt kind of awkward for some reason now the whole crew was just staring at him. He decided it was best to transform back to his human form first.

The crew watched in shock and fascination as the dragon started to change shape. The transformation didn't last long. After less than a minute the dragon had been replaced by their teen captain.

Some of the crew looked relieved to know that the dragon really was their captain and not some random beast that had jumped on board. Still, the idea of the rubberman being some kind of mythical creature was weird.

Zoro had walked over to his captain and draped his dark-green coat over the bare shoulders of his friend. The teen's clothes must have ripped apart when he changed in the water. Luffy thanked Zoro and turned his gaze back to the crew.

"I guess I owe you all an explanation." He said. The crew didn't say anything, but Luffy knew that they all wanted answers. "Let's get out of here first. I'll explain later." He said.

"What about those people on the other ships?" Chopper asked silently. Sure, those were bad people, but he never really liked it when he or anyone of the crew killed someone.

"Leave them be. They won't burn." Luffy answered. The reindeer looked at him slightly confused. "How do you know? Aren't those real flames?" He asked. Luffy shrugged. "Those are real flames, but I somehow know they won't hurt them. I never put those flames there with the intent to kill." The teen said.

The crew decided it was time to go now. They didn't want to stay any longer near the enemy. 

So they set sail, leaving the burning ships behind.

* * *

A few hours had passed since they left the island and the other ships behind. Luffy told everything to the crew, including that Zoro already knew for several weeks and the information the leader of the group that had held them captive had told him.

The crew was glad that that the rubberman told them, but they were a bit disappointed that he didn't tell them sooner. They were his crew, his friends. They told almost everything to each other. Nobody needed to be afraid or ashamed of who or what they were because it didn't matter to them.

Zoro didn't show it, but he too was glad his captain finally told the crew what he was. Not that the teen really had an other choice after they saw his dragon form. 

Now the rest of the crew knew, maybe Zoro would have a little more time for himself. It felt like ages ago that he had a really long nap (sleeping at night doesn't count) because Luffy wanted to train with him all the time and wouldn't stop asking until he finally gave in. It's not like he didn't like training with the other man, he just really missed his regular naps.

Now Luffy could bug the rest of the crew about his dragon form. Maybe some of them could train with the rubberman instead of him sometimes as well. I would be good for the dragon to train with people with different abilities.

Usopp was happy that Luffy told him and the others. A lot of the things he had witnessed between the rubberman and the swordsman made a lot more sense now he knew about his captain's other form.

The idea of the two of them being in a relationship was a lot less likely now. Almost everything could be explained now, like why the two men suddenly spent so much time with each other, why Luffy's clothes sometimes ripped or disappeared and why Luffy didn't want anyone other than Zoro to go with him when he went to explore an island.

He just hoped Nami saw this as well and wouldn't bring the topic of a relationship between the two up.

* * *

It was just after dinner and everyone was on deck enjoying the nice evening weather. Most of them were just sitting on the grassy ground. Zoro and Luffy were leaning against the railing next to each other. There was a comfortable silence between them until the younger of the two decided to break that silence.

"I still don't understand why I didn't tell them sooner. Why was I so afraid they would reject me now I'm different? I mean, almost no one in the crew is normal. I just feel so stupid for even considering that they wouldn't accept me." Luffy said.

"It doesn't matter. You've told them now. That's all that counts." Zoro replied. Luffy sighed. "But still.. I feel like I'm a bad friend and captain for not trusting-" Zoro bonked him on the head.

"I said it doesn't matter. That's in the past now. Sure, you should've just told us sooner, but everyone does things they regret later. That's a part of life. So don't think about it too much, okay?" The swordsman said. Luffy was silent for a few seconds. He then smiled. "Okay!"

Suddenly, there was someone standing in front of them. They looked up to see Nami. She leaned against the railing. The two men looked at each other. What was she up to?

"So, are you two in a relationship or not?" She asked.

"What? No! What makes you think that?" Zoro asked. Luffy just looked confused. Why would he and Zoro be in a relationship? The redhead shrugged. The silence returned for a few seconds before Nami spoke again.

"Maybe you two should try it. You two would look cute together."

"What the hell witch?!"

"Hey don't yell at Nami-swan!"

"Shut up love-cook"

"What did you say?!"

And of course a fight broke out. The remaining members of the crew sighed. Nothing changed after what had happened the last few days. Everything was still the same.

Well, it wasn't like much changed in the first place. Sure, they now knew their captain was part dragon, but he was still Luffy. And Luffy never changes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this was it. I hope you enjoyed it!   
> Also, I made a few drawings of this fanfiction. You can find them on my account on DeviantArt (FireArrowAce) if you want to see them :)

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this story on my account on Fanfiction a while ago, but I decided to post it here as well because why not. I hope you enjoy it!


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